Saturday, July 05, 2014

good news -- and bad news

Let's get the bad news out of the way first.

After spending five hours in the emergency room undergoing a chest x-ray, an ultra-sound, an EKG, and blood tests, it is the professional opinion of my temporary doctor that I am suffering from high blood pressure.

No blood clot. No brain tumor. No diabetes. No nothing.

Of course, I walked into the hospital knowing that I had high blood pressure. But no one knows the cause. In other words, I am exactly in the same position as if I had not visited the doctor.

The good news is that I get to double the dose of my blood pressure medicine. And that's it.

On the drive back from the hospital, I told my brother and mother that if I had been in Melaque, Dr. Rosa would have told me exactly the same thing. In five minutes. And it would not have cost the good taxpayers of the United States the multiple thousands of dollars that the hospital will receive from Medicare and Tricare for all of the tests that resulted in absolutely nothing.

That may be enough to encapsulate one of the weaknesses of the American medical system. I am glad it was there to reassure me that my body is working very well, thank you, with the exception of the high blood pressure I knew about already. Reassurance that was not needed at a cost without benefit.

So, I will monitor my blood pressure twice a day after doubling my share of Pa's Little Blood Pills for the next week.

I just realized that each trip to Bend results in some sort of medical visit. I need to follow the advice of some commenters and head back to Mexico -- where the medicine is sweeter.